Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 review - Can Samsung’s best tablet out-work the iPad - Android

Update December 24: Samsung has dropped the price of the tablet by $100 and is now offering a trade-in deal that can net up to $450 off depending on the phone or tablet traded in. 

Samsung is not about to cede the tablet market to Apple, not yet anyway. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is the Korean company’s most premium slate to-date, and it offers a rich array of tools for mobile professionals.

Here is Android Authority‘s Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 review.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 review: Why now?

Apple has owned the tablet space since the iPad’s 2010 debut. The current generation of iPad Pro slates are powerful, near-PC replacements that mobile pros take seriously.

Samsung has fiddled with the tablet market for years, seemingly for appearances more so than to legitimately compete. The company trots out consumer- and professional-grade tablets every so often, but it’s been hard to take some of the offerings seriously.

The Galaxy Tab S6 is Samsung’s best effort in the tablet market and finally brings some clout to the Android slate space. Can it get the job (literally!) done? Find out.

What is the Galaxy Tab S6?

The Tab S6 is a high-quality tablet aimed at people who need to be productive, as well as those who want an immersive media experience in a slate.

It features an aluminum chassis, brilliant 10.5-inch AMOLED display, dual rear cameras, and most of the other bells and whistles we’re used to on top-grade hardware. That means a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor with 6GB or 8GB of RAM paired with either 128GB or 256GB of storage. A microSD card slot can expand storage another 512GB.

The USB-C port is the only charging option. There’s no headphone jack (seriously, on a tablet?!?), but the four AKG-tuned speakers deliver a satisfying sonic punch when watching the latest Hollywood releases.

Pins on one side edge allow the tablet to connect with and provide power to Samsung’s keyboard accessory.

As far as the design and build quality are concerned, Samsung nailed it. The Galaxy Tab S6 is Samsung’s tablet game at its best.

Then there’s the S Pen. The Tab S6 supports a stylus, same as the Galaxy Note series phones. Samsung carved out a channel for the stylus on the rear that also serves as a charging dock. The S Pen adheres magnetically to the tablet fairly well, but it will pop off if it catches on something.

This arrangement isn’t dissimilar to Apple’s latest Pencil, which clings to and charges on the side edge of the iPad. Neither of these configurations is optimal, though I get the manufacturers’ reluctance to dedicate internal space in either tablet to the stylus.

The S Pen itself is large and comfortable to use. It connects to the tablet via Bluetooth, so even when not hovering directly over the screen you can use it to advance PowerPoint presentations or take snapshots with the camera.

As far as the design and build quality are concerned, Samsung nailed it. The materials are excellent and the device is assembled tightly. The Galaxy Tab S6 is Samsung’s tablet game at its best.

Is the Tab S6 good for mobile pros?

The answer to this question is, of course, “It depends.”

I spent several full works days with the tablet and I was indeed able to perform the majority of my job functions from the device. Mundane tasks such as triaging communications, editing documents, searching the web, and managing files were all easy to master. If all you need to do is stay in touch with your colleagues (or friends and family), then the Tab S6 excels at that.

Need to do some heavier lifting? I downloaded Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. All these apps ran well on the tablet, with the obvious limitations thanks to screen size. You can use the trackpad, your finger, or the S Pen to navigate the screen. I found the S Pen necessary for Excel.

The Snapdragon 855 had no trouble with PowerPoint. Nor did it run into any issues with Adobe Lightroom, which can be RAM-intensive. Editing photos was simple, if not entirely speedy.

The Book Cover keyboard, a costly accessory, is absolutely necessary for people to be truly productive.

Samsung sent us the tablet with the Book Cover keyboard. In my view, this costly accessory is absolutely necessary for people to be truly productive. The keyboard comes in two pieces. One attaches to the rear of the Tab S6 and protects the S Pen, while the other section consists of the keyboard and snaps to the pins magnetically.

You’ll find a full keyboard complete with number keys, arrow keys, and other buttons for interacting with the UI, such as search and toggling DeX on and off. I dig the trackpad, and dig that you can turn it off even more. I’m sure some will complain about the keyboard, but I found it worked well enough for writing emails, keeping up with Slack, and, yes, contributing to this review. The biggest issue: No backlight.

The keyboard costs $180, though you can snag it for half price if you order it bundled with the tablet from Samsung.